Quantum Leap Conundrum

Well, you know that I am resident sci-fi mommy here at MAL. So today I was watching the Quantum Leap marathon (in honor of leap year) on the Sci-Fi Channel (just about the only thing I've watched on it since they cancelled Farscape--not that I'm bitter). They showed the series finale and hubby and I discussed how it was a satisfying series finale because it wrapped things up while allowing you to know that the adventure would continue. However, we disagree about the meaning of the finale. (And if you care about this sort of thing for a series that ended so long ago--I'm spoiling stuff).

The Bartender person talks to Sam about a sabbatical before a difficult mission. He asks Sam where he would like to go. Sam says home, but then says he needs to go talk to Al's wife instead. The last shot in the show is the line that "Dr. Sam Becket never returns home)."

Now I always interpreted this to mean that Sam was never seen by the Quantum Leap Project again. I thought that he was given a choice of how he would like to spend his last moments in a sabbatical and that thereafter, he would resume random leaping ad infinitum, only this time without the help of Al or anyone at the Quantum Leap Project (which, by the way, I thought was pretty crappy for his wife, but I'm a woman so I think that way). I thought that he was going to be leaping alone, and the increased difficulty would come not just from the more complex problems but from the fact that he would be on his own, without back-up. Sam's decision to go to Al's wife was his final gift to a friend who had been through so much with him--Sam didn't save him when he was a prisoner of war, but he could do this one thing, before going away.

Hubby thinks that there is no reason, based on the series finale, to think that Al was unable to help Sam at least some of the time. He feels certain that Al continues to work with Sam after the finale. After all, it says that he never returned home, not that he was never seen again.

Anyone out there care and have any thoughts about this?